Remembering Abdul Qadir and Abid Ali

In the deaths of two great people – cricket legend Abdul Qadir and veteran actor Abid Ali – we have mourning their loss as well as cherishing their memory.

One of the greatest leg-spin maestros of his time, rather all time, Abdul Qadir died of cardiac arrest on September 6 in Lahore. He was 63. From the late 70s till early 90s, Qadir ruled the cricket grounds with his peculiar style, formidable flippers, treacherous googlies, luring flighted deliveries and deadly leg spinners. Playing and surviving his overs used to be a world class experience for batsmen and watching his angular run-up and dancing bowling action was a treat for fans. Qadir thrilled the cricket world with his style and class in 67 Tests and 104 One-Day International matches for Pakistan. He started his Test career in Lahore on December 14, 1977. Qadir debuted his One-Day International against New Zealand in Birmingham on Jun 11, 1983. The last time the world of cricket saw the Sultan of googly in action was on December 6, 1990 in a Test against West Indies and on November 2, 1993 in a One-Day International in Sharjah. He took 236 wickets in Tests and 104 in One-Day Internationals. By the time he retired, leg spin bowling had been comprehensively revived.

On September 5, Abid Ali, the legendary actor, breathed his last after a protracted illness in Karachi. He was 67. He has now gone for more than a week but three to five generations are still grappling with the shock. The world of art will take a while to absorb this particular death. Acting ran in his blood. Born in Quetta on March 29, 1952, Abid Ali was interested in performing arts. He joined Radio Pakistan to try his imposing voice in broadcast for a brief period. Later, he shifted to Lahore to try his luck on television. It is a never ending debate if Abid Ali popularised TV drama with his character acting or TV drama popularised him. His performance in classic TV plays like Waris (1978) and Jhok Siyal (1973) is still a treat to watch. Abid Ali also tried his hand at film production.

Both Abdul Qadir and Abid Ali are survived by multiple generations of fans. Rest in peace, Qadir and Abid! *